Collin Anderson of the Washington Free Beacon highlights a bogus news operation.

Over the past three months, an avowed left-wing organization has spent more than $9 million on Facebook ads boosting Vice President Kamala Harris and attacking former president Donald Trump. The spots have reached scores of swing state voters using a Facebook feature that allows advertisers to submit their own data—for political groups, that is, data they’ve compiled on voters—to reach a precise audience.

The practice is considered standard operating procedure for campaigns and PACs. But the group behind the $9 million digital ad blitz is neither a campaign nor a PAC—at least not on paper. Instead, it’s Courier Newsroom, liberal operative Tara McGowan’s organization that pushes Democratic talking points under the guise of local “news” outlets.

Courier’s Facebook ad spending—and its targeting tactics—reflect the extent to which Democrats rely on McGowan’s media project to reach voters online. 

While the $9 million Courier has spent on Facebook ads since Aug. 3 is not a substantial amount when compared with spending on television advertisements (Future Forward, the preeminent PAC supporting Harris, had already reserved $332 million worth of airtime by mid-September), it is a sizable sum in the digital ad game, where a few hundred dollars is enough to place a spot that garners thousands of impressions. And while Future Forward does run digital ads, it has spent $4.8 million on such spots in the last 90 days, roughly half as much as Courier.

Courier’s ad blitz also reflects the advantages the group receives by presenting itself as a nonpartisan news entity.

When Future Forward runs a Facebook ad, it does so through a page that explicitly labels it a political organization. That page includes a disclaimer that it is “paid for by FF PAC.” A curious user could follow the information to the Federal Election Commission database and review Future Forward’s public donors, including liberal billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Reid Hoffman.

But when Courier runs a Facebook ad, it does so through one of its 11 “local news” outlets.